Sollievo Cortina

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy: Sollievo is a restored 1939 villa in Pocol, just above Cortina d’Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomites. Surrounded by more than 11,000 square metres of private woodland and with uninterrupted views across the surrounding peaks, the property reopens as a private alpine retreat, offering a quieter and more personal way to experience the mountains.

The project is the latest by third-generation hôtelière and author Elisabetta Dotto, owner of Ambra Cortina and Excess Venice. Rather than creating another luxury chalet, Dotto has restored one of Cortina’s historic mountain houses into a design-led retreat centred on privacy, atmosphere and personal hospitality. The project extends the approach that has defined her previous properties, while shifting the focus away from the traditional hotel model towards a contemporary way of inhabiting the mountains.

Built in 1939 for a Venetian lawyer, Sollievo has been part of Cortina’s history for almost a century. During the Second World War, it was requisitioned by German troops before becoming a house of hospitality managed by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. Later, it became the home of a local family, and in 1994 its distinctive interiors appeared in the Italian film La Ragazza di Cortina. The villa’s original name has been retained, acknowledging the different chapters of its history rather than replacing them.

For Dotto, Sollievo was familiar long before she acquired it in 2025. Drawn to its architecture and secluded setting, she saw the restoration as an opportunity to preserve the character of the house rather than reinvent it.

The restoration was led by architecture practice Perissinotto Lab, under the direction of architect Gian Luca Perissinotto, working alongside architect Angela Pavan. Developed in close collaboration with Dotto, the project began with a simple objective: to preserve what already made the villa distinctive. Its original proportions, façades, balconies, flower boxes and roofline have all been retained, while the building has been upgraded to meet contemporary standards without altering its identity.

THE HOUSE

The house extends across four floors and more than 500 square meters. Three separate staircases connect the different levels, each introducing its own atmosphere while maintaining a consistent architectural language throughout the property. Rather than creating a sequence of formal guest spaces, the interiors have been conceived much like a private home, with craftsmanship, materiality and comfort shaping every room.

Original furniture has been restored alongside bespoke contemporary pieces, with Liberty cabinets, vintage seating and a nineteenth-century sofa with gilded legs among the villa’s historic collection. Timber, leather, velvet and glass bring warmth to the interiors without overshadowing the architecture.

Natural light shapes the experience of the house, with the living spaces receiving sun from early morning and uninterrupted views towards Becco di Mezzodì, Sorapis, Antelao and Tofana di Rozes. A recurring triangular motif, inspired by the roofline, links the original architecture with the new interiors.

Although just a few minutes from the centre of Cortina and its ski slopes, Sollievo feels removed from the town. Surrounded by woodland and protected from further development, it offers a setting defined by silence, changing light and the rhythm of the seasons. Preserving that relationship between the house and its landscape was as important to the project as restoring the building itself.

Rather than following the conventions of luxury hospitality, Sollievo has been conceived as a house to inhabit: one where architecture, landscape and everyday life come together naturally, and where the experience is shaped as much by the place as by the people who stay there.